LatinNews Daily Report - 08 November 2012

Ecuador: On 3 November, President Rafael Correa of Ecuador said that he received a complaint from a Chilean journalist, Patricio Mery Bell, about an alleged operation led by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). According to Correa, who made public the allegation on his weekly radio show ‘Diálogo con el Presidente’ (dialogue with the President), the operation would seek to destabilise Correa’s government and avoid his re-election in the elections due on 17 February 2013. Correa said that Bell had been arrested by the CIA as part of a “trap” after he had made various accusations against the US agency for illegal activities designed to discredit the Correa administration. On 22 October last Craig Murray, an former British ambassador, stated that “the US budget, using mostly Pentagon funds, devoted to influencing the Ecuadorean election has, since the Venezuelan result, been almost tripled to US$87m”. Murray maintains that this money will be used to thwart Correa’s re-election bid, particularly in view of Ecuador’s assistance to the Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange. Assange remains holed up in Ecuador’s embassy in London following Correa’s approval of his request for political asylum on 16 August.

End of preview - This article contains approximately 573 words.

Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article

Not a Subscriber?

Choose from one of the following options

• Subscribe
• Sign up for a one-time, 14-day trial